Bush's handling of the "assault weapon" issue was no more honorable than Kerry's flip-flops on Iraq, but at least it was more artful. The same cannot be said of the president's shifting stances regarding restrictions on political speech.
Back in March 2000, when he was asked about independent ads attacking Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., his rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Bush was a steadfast defender of the First Amendment. "That's what freedom of speech is all about," he said on "Face the Nation." "People have the right to run ads."
A couple years later, presented with McCain's attempt to make it harder for people to criticize politicians, Bush swallowed his constitutional compunctions and signed the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which Republicans thought would give them an advantage because it increased the importance of the restricted "hard money" donations they excelled at collecting.
Now the president is complaining that the law did not go far enough, leaving some leeway for independent groups to run ads attacking him. He wants the Federal Election Commission to shut them up.
To be fair, the president is demanding an end to all so-called 527 groups, not just the ones critical of him. Kerry, by contrast, has focused his objections on Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, alleging that the group is illegally coordinating its activities with the Bush campaign.
Yet anti-Bush groups such as MoveOn.org and the Media Fund seem to be no less closely allied with the Kerry campaign, sharing not just goals and donors but personnel. Such connections are not in themselves illegal, so unless Kerry can demonstrate direct coordination, he will just have to put up with the attacks on his Vietnam record.
Under Bush's approach, however, 527s simply would disappear -- a welcome development for Republicans, who have not been nearly as successful as the Democrats at collecting money this way. So let's give the president his due: He is a more consistent opponent of free speech.